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Jaysus lads ( & lassies) only 10 shopping days to first round v Kildare and no real buzz about the game.

I don't care how much we may or may not be underdogs and expect a heavy defeat, I still have the anticipation building

it's championship time, against Kildare, and I expect Offaly to perform to the best of their abilities on day one, give it absolutely everything, and whatever happens after that i will accept.

Put enough pressure on Kildares forwards and they can have very bad shooting days.

My glass is currently half full !

Come on the faithful.

We have problems all over the pitch but especially at midfield, we have no one to last the 70 minutes+, I thought that against Limerick we looked very unfit at times and they were ablec to rub through us, Kildare are no great shakes but unfortunately they will beat us easing up, Croke Park will suit them aswell

Fuck it im going for it, here it goes Offaly 2-10 Kildare 0-15 . Im keeping a bit of faith with our own lads anyway, to many been negative, what have we got to lose , its the first round of the championship, we are training better, more organised than last year all we can ask is that the players go out and show a bit of pride in the jersey, the county , their families and themselves.

I'm not sure what to expect.
The 3 players getting cut from the panel might set down a marker and help for the future, but it doesn't help our cause in a week's time.
We'll head up to Croke Park with hope as always!

just over a week to go now and i have a gut feeling we are going to give the lillies a good match in croker.we probably wont win it but i think mcdonnell will not let us be murdered.it could be all behind the ball but you have to do what works.getting rid of the 3 lads probably brought more focus into the panel on how serious he his.with Galway and Armagh not playing up to their max ,theres always a chance kildare will be looking at the bigger picture.pressure is on kildare to produce a performance.i think we will rattle them for 60 mins,then the experience and 5yr training will get them over the line.best of luck to all involved.a serious amount of work put in.

Is it true about the 3 lads getting ran from the panel? Fair play to management for acting on it. The party lifestyle of some of our county footballers is what has the county where it is.

The way football has changed makes it much more difficult for the underdog to "put it up" to better teams. And be honest, Kildare are a significantly better team than Offaly.
Well drilled teams just dont give away the opportunities that you might have got 20 or 30 years ago.
An improvement on last years performance and result is what we should be looking for.
Then look to build a team that can at least stay in D3 next year.

We most definitely got the rub of the green during the league, Leitrim, Carlow, Tipp games could have gone either way. I feel that this year is a bit like 2012 for Donegal, only a much lower scale obviously! Effectively McDonnell is trying to perfect the defensive side of the game, which unfortuantely is the way the game is gone,and try to build a more expansive approach over the coming season or 2.
Kildare are light years ahead of us, and although they have their faults, there preparation and base over the last 5 years is a bridge too far.

What I am hoping for is that we put up a more solid defensive showing than we did against Limerick, (if they had their shooting boots on we would have been beaten by 7/8 points). That we have unearthed a couple of prospects who must come in and fill the boots of the 3 Amigo's, and that we have some semblance of a plan to our forward play, and when Kildare figure out that plan, (as Limerick did), that we can counter with a plan B.
The tactical part of adapting during the game is where McDonnell and his crew seem to be failing.
Finally, we need to empty the bench and have at least 3 subs on with 20mins to go, as this is a real area where it will help us to be competitive for longer, and one wher we failed miserably against Limerick when we failed to make changes despite plenty of underperformers.

So personally, 7 point defeat, with us scoring, 1-10, is what I see happening. Then regroup and we really need a solid draw in the qualifiers, and rack up a win or 2. I cant see McDonnell allowing the lads to play an expansive enough gameplan to cause any problems to Kildare defence. Plus they will punish fouls, win more breaking ball, and potentially offer more of a goalscoring threat.

I'm not so sure about Kildare's goal scoring threat, or that they will punish fouls too effectively. My most confident expectation about Kildare is that they will kick about 20 wides, and the only help they need to do this is a basic level of pressure being put on the shooter.

Up front they now have Seanie Johnston but I don't look on him as a good ball winner in 50-50 contests. Tomas O'Connor is a good ball winner but I don't think I've seen him put boot to ball successfully after that. You can bet the Lottery on him trying to handpass the ball straight away, so be ready fro that. John Doyle is still good, but not as good as he used to be.

We know how they will try to play it. We should be able to plan for their style and system. Can they plan for ours?

The Cork - Limerick result tonight doesn't augur well for us against Kildare next week. It seems a gap is growing between the divisions, so shock results seem to be less likely. That said Cavan beating Armagh was a small surprise last week and Cavan were in a lower division. We have to just hope for a good performance from Offaly first and foremost. Who knows then Kildare might have another off day too.

Is this game on RTE on saturday??

kildare should win with a bit to spare, but they will still need Johnny Doyle to play well to beat us
thats why they won't go any where after.

Worrying beatings handed out to Limerick and Tipperary. The difference in quality in the leagues starting to show in the championship. Although Wicklow, London and Dongeal showed that their league form was only temporary. Not sure can Offaly improve substantially on their league form and play. Offaly seemed to be very fit very early on in the year and had some early success in O'Byrne cup. However in the league that fitness edge seemed to have disappeared and our football was poor at times. Kildare to beat the spread i fear!

Thereorthereabouts wrote:Is this game on RTE on saturday??

No but the Dubs match is on at 7. Rte two have 'Babys day out' and 'Natures miracle babies' from 4-7. Ridiculous so it is considering that they have all the equiptment (cameras etc) already in place

Setanta nor TV3 aren't showing it

Baby's Day Out is well worth a watch.

It's basically the same as that Leonardo Di Caprio film, Catch Me If You Can, only the twist is......it's a baby! Absolute genius. You'd never see it coming. Works on so many levels. Especially comedy though, because seeing babies do stuff, is dead funny like. And he's a really clever baby too. Not like any of the babies i know, they're not really that clever.
I'll be honest, you could do worse, than watch this movie. I'm telling ya lads, you'll enjoy it!